Mekong River Pollution

Around 40 to 50 families are living and selling their production along the Mekong River in front of Sambour market. With their day to day activities, they are polluting the river water as they always throw waste in the river especially plastic waste. Moreover, some families installed their toilets and/or pigs on the riverbank, thus all kind of wastes flow into the river every day.

Beside these families, there are other sellers on the riverbank (close to the boat station), who also contribute to the water pollution. Small shops were built on the riverbank and led to the scattering of gasoline, machine oil, all kind of cakes, plastic waste… Furthermore, some people go to excrete in the flooded forest near their shop. This is all done even though they used to attend trainings about plastic waste and its impact, waste collection events and listened to the declaration from Sambour District governor and CRDT.

This problem directly affects the people living on the riverbank as it is hazardous for their health and impacting their businesses because they rely on the river water for their daily living. Also a lot of tourists have been visiting the 100 Pillar pagoda or Koh Phdao Eco-tourism island and other areas in Sambour District and they might have a bad impression about the location because of the impact on the landscape, the quality of water and the environment.

CRDT is working hard at finding how to tackle this important issue and help the people understand how damaging it is for them and the environment.

By Sok Chanpheaktra, Environmental Education Project Officer